Leading Payment Service Provider eSewa Enters 17th Year

Kathmandu, January 25 – eSewa, Nepal's leading payment service provider, has entered its 17th year of establishment and operation. After launching its beta version in 2009 and starting formal services on January 25, 2010, eSewa has completed a 16-year journey from the inception of digital payments to the expansion of the digital economy, entering its 17th year.

Operating with the core slogan 'Everyone, Always, Together,' eSewa has been developing as a medium to make economic activities simple, secure, and accessible to all. Currently, eSewa has become a digital platform connected to the daily lives of every Nepali, providing services such as top-up, utility bill payments, flight tickets, hotel bookings, insurance purchases, movie tickets, loans, and investments.

Speaking at a program organized on the occasion of the 17th anniversary and Innovation Day, eSewa Chairman Parshuram Kunwar Chhetri stated that they will continuously strive to make eSewa's services even more excellent, secure, and reliable as Nepal's leading payment service provider. 

He mentioned that eSewa is committed to making a positive contribution to society through the expansion of digital financial services in collaboration with regulatory bodies, users, society, and all stakeholders.

Similarly, eSewa CEO Jagdish Khadka shared that eSewa has been providing services with the core mantra of always including everyone and moving forward together. He stated that eSewa's 17-year journey proves that a Nepali company is capable of competing on a global level.

"Today, we are becoming established as a fintech company capable of competing globally. We view this achievement not as a destination, but as a foundation for future innovations," Khadka said. "Keeping user needs and technological development at the center, we are engaged in innovation every day and express our commitment to contribute more responsibly to the Digital Nepal journey in the coming days."

In its 17-year journey, eSewa has established easy, secure, and fast payment services and financial inclusion as its core goals. It has expressed commitment to increasing the participation of all classes in the digital economy through user-centric innovation and financial inclusion, simplifying the payment experience for users, agents, and merchants, and making a solid contribution to building a Digital Nepal.

Three new features added to eSewa on the occasion of the 17th anniversary

eSewa has also expanded its facilities on the occasion of its 17th anniversary. On this occasion, eSewa has introduced user-centric solutions such as the TalkBack feature targeted at visually impaired and low-vision users, Intent-based payment to make payments easier and faster, and eSewa Circle Chat. The details of these features are as follows:

eSewa TalkBack: eSewa has launched the TalkBack feature for visually impaired or low-vision users. eSewa is the first payment provider in Nepal to launch the TalkBack service. 

Under this feature, content on the screen is converted into voice. Through this, users can easily understand and operate buttons, names, and actions. TalkBack is available in both English and Nepali languages on eSewa. It is believed that this will give the visually impaired an opportunity to use eSewa independently and increase digital financial freedom and inclusion.

Intent-based Payment: eSewa has made the payment process even faster and simpler by bringing the Intent-based payment feature. Intent-based payment is a system where payment is completed quickly, securely, and without interruption based on the user's intention to pay. In this system, users can start the payment from exactly where they need to pay. 

After clicking 'Pay with eSewa' on a merchant app or website, the eSewa app opens directly or the payment is approved through device-level authentication (fingerprint or face ID), removing the hassle of MPIN, password, or OTP. This reduces the problem of processes stopping midway during payment and provides users with a secure, easy experience to complete transactions in a few seconds.

eSewa Circle Chat: A chat feature has now been added to eSewa Circle. In this, users get facilities to add friends, create groups, split bills, send gifts, comment, and react. 

This removes the hassle of having to go to another app to talk after splitting bills collectively. Since conversations in group chat remain permanently, it is believed that this will bring more ease to the dialogue and transactions between friends.